Letter: Waking up to defense

By Cecilia Ma

Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) has called on all Communist Party members to study the selected works of former party chief Jiang Zemin (江澤民) ("Jiang's book hits the `must read' list," Aug. 17, page 4). Hu called the works "the best textbook" for studying the important thought of the "Three Represents" in an in-depth way, and for further pushing forward "the great cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics" and party development.

This is interesting. In a democratic country, people can read what they like and say what they like instead of being afraid. But in China, you are not even free to surf the Internet and get the information you want.

In Jiang's publication, it is revealed that he once mentioned to former US president Bill Clinton a timetable to solve the "Taiwan issue." He also once mentioned during a closed-door speech to the military that forceful means would be necessary in addition to propaganda.

We can clearly understand how the Chinese are going about their propaganda: with hard and soft strategies. They deploy hundreds of missiles pointing at us and compress our diplomatic relationships while offering us pandas and agricultural benefits.

We are stupid if we don't wake up to this. The enemy is waiting for its chance. To maintain the stable and prosperous life we have now, the easiest way is to support national defense for the sake of everyone.